fix: prevent Templater double-execution race with Modal Forms

[chhoumann]

Summary

Fixes #1084 - Modal Forms dialogs appearing twice when using QuickAdd templates.

Root Cause Analysis

The bug was a race condition between two independent Templater execution paths:

1. Templater's auto-trigger (trigger_on_file_creation setting)
2. QuickAdd's explicit call (overwriteTemplaterOnce())

The Problematic Flow (Before)

1. QuickAdd adds file path to Templater's `files_with_pending_templates` (suppression)
2. QuickAdd creates file via `vault.create()`
3. Templater's trigger-on-create event fires, starts ~300ms countdown
4. After 350ms, QuickAdd REMOVES path from `files_with_pending_templates`
5. QuickAdd calls `overwriteTemplaterOnce()` explicitly
6. If Templater's countdown finishes AFTER step 4, it sees "not pending" and proceeds
7. BOTH auto-trigger AND explicit call run → Modal Forms opens twice

The core issue: suppression ended before the explicit overwrite call, creating a window where Templater's auto-trigger could sneak through.

Why Timing-Based Fixes Don't Work

• Increasing the suppression buffer (350ms → 1500ms) only reduces frequency, never eliminates the race
• Any change in Obsidian event ordering, Templater delays, or async scheduling can re-break it
• Users pay UX latency (every create waits N ms) and still might race

The Fix: Mutual Exclusion

Pick ONE runner, not both. For newly created files:

trigger_on_file_creation	Suppression	Runner
Enabled	❌ No (let auto-trigger fire)	waitForTemplaterTriggerOnCreateToComplete()
Disabled	✅ Yes	overwriteTemplaterOnce()

This eliminates the entire class of "auto-trigger starts late" races by ensuring exactly one of {auto-trigger, explicit overwrite} runs.

The New Flow (After)

When trigger_on_file_creation is enabled:

1. QuickAdd creates file (NO suppression)
2. Templater's auto-trigger fires and processes the template
3. QuickAdd waits for completion via waitForTemplaterTriggerOnCreateToComplete()
4. Done - Templater ran exactly once

When trigger_on_file_creation is disabled:

1. QuickAdd suppresses auto-trigger
2. QuickAdd creates file
3. QuickAdd calls overwriteTemplaterOnce() explicitly
4. Done - Templater ran exactly once

Changes

src/engine/TemplateEngine.ts

• createFileWithTemplate(): Check isTemplaterTriggerOnCreateEnabled() to decide strategy
• If enabled: don't suppress, let auto-trigger run, wait for completion
• If disabled: suppress and call overwriteTemplaterOnce()

src/engine/CaptureChoiceEngine.ts

• onCreateFileIfItDoesntExist(): Same mutual exclusion logic for capture-with-template flows

Test Plan

• Create a template with Modal Forms that prompts for input
• With Templater's trigger_on_file_creation enabled: form should appear exactly once
• With Templater's trigger_on_file_creation disabled: form should appear exactly once
• Capture choice with create-if-missing + template: form should appear exactly once
• Existing overwriteFileWithTemplate behavior unchanged (modifies existing files, not affected by trigger-on-create)

Compatibility Notes

This changes behavior for users who have trigger_on_file_creation enabled:

• Before: QuickAdd suppressed auto-trigger and ran Templater explicitly
• After: QuickAdd lets auto-trigger run naturally

This should be transparent to users since the end result is the same (Templater processes the template), but now it happens via the auto-trigger path instead of QuickAdd's explicit call.

---

Summary by CodeRabbit

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a potential race condition where templates could be executed multiple times when creating new files with template or capture functionality enabled.
• Improved coordination between template creation settings and auto-trigger functionality to ensure consistent file formatting and accurate content capture.

_{✏️ Tip: You can customize this high-level summary in your review settings.}

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
quickadd	Ready	Preview	Jan 30, 2026 9:21pm

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR fixes a race condition causing modal forms to execute twice when using QuickAdd with templates. Changes to CaptureChoiceEngine and TemplateEngine introduce conditional logic that coordinates templater execution, preventing duplicate invocation by either waiting for Templater's auto-trigger or explicitly invoking it once, depending on configuration.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)

Summary

Templater Execution Coordination src/engine/CaptureChoiceEngine.ts, src/engine/TemplateEngine.ts

Implements mutual-exclusion logic for templater execution by computing triggerOnCreate status and conditionally passing suppressTemplaterOnCreate to file creation. Replaces unconditional templater invocation with conditional branching: waits for auto-trigger if enabled, otherwise explicitly runs templater once. Adds follow-up read/format step in CaptureChoiceEngine after templating to ensure content consistency.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 4 (Complex) | ⏱️ ~45 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• #1017 — Modifies overlapping templater-related flows and utility functions (isTemplaterTriggerOnCreateEnabled, suppressTemplaterOnCreate, waitForTemplaterTriggerOnCreateToComplete).

Suggested labels

released

Poem

🐰 Two templaters dancing was quite the fright,
But a rabbit fixed the race—now just one sprite!
Conditional branches now guard the way,
Modal forms pop once, hip-hop hooray! ✨

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately and concisely summarizes the main change: fixing a Templater double-execution race with Modal Forms.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The code changes implement mutual exclusion logic that directly addresses issue #1084 by preventing Modal Forms from opening twice through coordinated Templater execution.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes are scoped to fixing the double-execution race: TemplateEngine.ts and CaptureChoiceEngine.ts implement mutual exclusion logic with no unrelated modifications.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch 1084-bug-modal-forms-breaking-with-quickadd-1

---

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[chatgpt-codex-connector]

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[chatgpt-codex-connector]

Preserve post-process-before-Templater ordering

When trigger_on_file_creation is enabled, this path intentionally skips suppression (triggerOnCreate → suppressTemplaterOnCreate = false), but the code still mutates front matter immediately after creation. Because Templater’s auto-trigger can fire before or concurrently with that post-processing, it can read unprocessed front matter (arrays coerced to strings, date tags not converted) or have its own front-matter edits overwritten by the later postProcessFrontMatter call. This breaks the existing assumption/tests that post-processing happens before Templater runs. To avoid this race, you still need a mutual exclusion mechanism (e.g., suppress until post-processing finishes, then allow the auto-trigger or explicitly call Templater once).

Useful? React with 👍 / 👎.

[devin-ai-integration]

✅ Devin Review: No Issues Found

Devin Review analyzed this PR and found no potential bugs to report.

View in Devin Review to see 4 additional flags.

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